Turn of the Screw
by Hugo V
Summary: This is a Stein torture fic. Plain and simple. *Discretion is Advised*


**Author's Note: From time to time I get these odd urges to write something so utterly repulsive it makes me sad to have access to fingers. I dulled down what I wanted to actually do, but I think this will suffice. *twists screw***

**I don't own Soul Eater, nor any of the manga's/anime's Affiliates. **

**Discretion is Advised **

* * *

"Tsubaki, I'd like you to stay lucid for me."

He breathes the words into her ear. The phosphorescent light that illuminates them from above flickers for a moment, almost as if in response. The girl in question cannot speak, strapped on her back to a paralyzingly cold operating table. Its raised edges dig into the small of her neck. Very clinical.

"I'd like you to stay lucid for me, Tsubaki."

She twists herself groggily, attempting to attain a second of clarity, however fleeting. The unknowingly ingested drugs that coarse through her system allow her only to hear the _tick tick ticking _of Stein's apparatus as it refuses to click into place. She thinks of a friendly get-together, a liquid of some description - the sharp scraping of metal as something is retrieved. The pieces, dulled by her shaky perception, fail to assemble.

"Tsubaki."

He snaps twice and she's suddenly alert to the gunmetal grey world around her. As far as she can tell through her improved, yet still cloudy, vision, Stein seems pleased by this. He confirms it with a, "Good. You're awake." Footsteps echo beneath her as he navigates to her opposite side. In a voice fit for speaking to children, he begins:

"You're wondering where you are, no doubt. Take a minute to get your bearings." She clenches her jaw and squeezes her eyes shut, fighting back a powerful ache in her head. Leather brushes against her arms, and as she cranes her neck, finds the restraints that bind her. One on each limb, save for her throat. "Tsubaki, you're showing remarkable composure." Stein says, smoothing her disheveled hair as he passes. "Now let's begin."

A slight, pulling sting tugs at her hand. It feels like a rolling pinch, numb, but not so completely that she doesn't wince. "Stein?" The tingling pain stops.

"Yes?"

She exhales, uncomfortable in her position. "Where am I?"

He acts affronted by the question, tilting his head as his jaw drops an inch. It's an uncharacteristically maudlin reaction. "Don't you remember the invitation? We drank coffee and talked about the weather like it was genuinely interesting." Stein responds, having sobered. "Do our banal conversations really mean so little to you?"

She tries to repeat the question, but her throat feels like a dry wilderness. Stein resumes his previous work, insistent to continue. As the hebetude resides, every nerve ending in her hand catches on fire. "Ah, ah, ah!" She hisses through her teeth, a sudden tear welling up to run down her cheek. "Stein! Help! Someone's attacking me!" She pleads, still not wholly aware of her situation.

"Nobody is attacking you. I'd appreciate your honesty in this process." He gives an unconvincing laugh, bordering on a stilted yell; she shudders. A gust of air heralds Stein's approach as he slides to loom over her, face to upside down face. There is a creasing at the corners of his mouth, but she can't tell if its a grimace or smile from the angle that she's viewing it. Either way, it's frightening. "I gave you a muscle relaxant to disable your weapon form, or rather, forms."

"But... Stein! Wait -" Her words are cut off, muffled by the rough insertion of a ball gag.

"I need to concentrate. Don't be selfish." Once again she feels the tugging - the punctuated pricks. And then a sheepish, drawn-out rip of flesh. Panicked, she glances at her hand, its tendons now fully exposed. They resemble the strings of a violin, but these are not plucked from a horse's mane; not nearly as much blood as she thought, the color like soft buttermilk and spongy strawberry. She gags, quelling the rising vomit, narrowly avoiding death by suffocation.

"I'd like you to tell me how you feel." Stein removes the obstruction in her mouth, prompting her to suck in a desperate breath of air. As she pants, putty in her captors hands, she turns to look him square in the eyes; Stein gasps.

"I-I-I'm not Tsubaki! I'm Marie!"

The scalpel falls from his loosened grip and clatters to the floor.

* * *

**I strived for a sense of realism in the pain. Anyway, leave/don't leave a review. I'm just happy you read it! :D**


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